Rival Consoles IO

If you miss the Aphex Twin who wrote songs that lit up warehouse raves at 3 a.m. but still tied your brain into knots, do yourself a favor and check out Rival Consoles. Ryan Lee West is a nascent IDM hero on IO, starting with the layered, epic acid squelches of “Milo,” which recalls the glory days of Rephlex. "1985" cranks the distortion and throws devil horns, while "Pvar" combines darker atmospherics with tartly detuned pads and chopped drums. Remembering the dance in braindance, Rival Consoles crams all of IDM's best tricks into the anthemic, relentless pounding of “ARP,” five minutes of head-on-fire, hands-in-the-air action.